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Commentary

Does Social Media Threaten the Future of the Organized Church?

A veteran parish pastor, now retired, loves to tell the story of a conversation he had many years ago with a young adult congregant who was drifting away from church after years of faithful attendance as a child.

“I don’t believe in organized religion,” the young woman said. The pastor quipped, “Do you prefer disorganized religion?”

Today, that pastor could safely quip, “Not to worry! There is no such thing as organized religion.”

The organized Church is unraveling.

The Roman Catholic Church, the paradigm of structure, is scrambling to bolster its traditional teachings against changing popular sentiment and practices. Its hierarchical structure is threatened by disinterest. There are fewer candidates for priesthood and religious orders. That means the power of the hierarchy is made available to fewer candidates, leaving weaker talent to rise to the top. It should be no surprise that scandal has followed. Without the traditional pool of workers to staff parishes, the foundations of parish traditions — the schools — are closing or merging. They may be more economic but will struggle to provide the parish identity which parishioners value as highly as the quality of education.

Protestants are not immune. They tend to get less media attention, but they, too, face challenges attracting professional leadership, dwindling support, and their share of scandal.

What does this mean to the average believer?

It means the laity will carry a greater burden in maintaining and administering parishes. They will do so with negligible support from any hierarchy. They will be asked to commit  time and resources that begin to outweigh the investment of professional leadership. They will have no support system when there is trouble—and there WILL BE trouble.

As a result, lay Christians will think twice before committing to supporting any congregation. The remaining hierarchy will reward the laity who are strong followers and penalize the laity who step into the leadership void. The faithful will have a tougher time meeting the expectations set for them in healthier days. Since lay involvement is, for the most part, volunteer, they, too, will become fewer in number.

As things deteriorate the blame game will begin. As the stakes get higher, the game will become nastier. The basic tenants of Christianity will be tested.

Much of this prediction is already happening.

If you don’t believe in organized religion, there was never a better time to sign up!

But 2×2 does not like to leave any reader feeling hopeless. While troubling, we view this as growing pains. 

The old structure is crumbling but a new Church is emerging. New life will take root in the ruins of the past.

The internet is rebuilding the foundation of the Church. The laity now have a voice. The hierarchy won’t like it and will try to control it. They will fail.

There are controls, however. The “joy stick” is not in any one person’s hand. We are entering a time when we will be held accountable by one another, not by a hierarchy.

Hang in there, Christians. This is going to get exciting!

photo credit: Denise ~*~ via photopin cc
22 Feb 2012

A New Direction for the Changing Church

The Church cannot escape what is happening in all of society. Things are changing!

Warning signs were posted long ago, but few understood their significance. Church attendance dropped. Length of pastorates shortened. The ministry became attractive as a second career more than a life’s calling. Families, the traditional foundation of parish life, were in disarray.

Church leaders are beginning to discover that the methodologies of church leadership taught and practiced for decades are no longer relevant. Leaders are feeling a bit lost. Their earned “expertise” is of less value.

But there is still a way — an exciting way, in fact.

Marketer Seth Godin wrote today in his daily blog, “The map has been replaced by the compass.”

He goes on to explain that detailed step by step management processes are no longer effective. The world changes too quickly.

Knowing what direction you are going is very important…  even critical. Throw out the map. Follow the compass.

Today’s leaders in the church must retrain. They are not alone. Many sectors of society are finding their classroom education no longer serves them. They, too, must retool their expertise. The church needs to find ways to get new training to pastors and professional leaders who graduated years ago. Seminarians can no longer expect 20 or 30 years of serving a congregation without ongoing continuing education. Other fields (medicine and education, for example) demand it. The church must, too. Congregations cannot wait for a decade before having the opportunity to find leadership able to meet their needs.

Failure to take steps now means setting up pastor after pastor and congregation after congregation for  failure. Expectations will not be met. Conflict will be rampant. Resources will be squandered with vain attempts to right things — the old way.

New professional leaders must be trained for a changing world. Many of yesterday’s tried and true tactics need to be abandoned. Pastors will not need a thick binder of policies as much as they will need a Bible and a compass. This may be harder to teach, but it is necessary if the church is to reach out in mission.

Without a sense of direction, the church will become as archaic as the robes donned for worship.

Let’s get out our compasses and point the church in the right direction. The foundation is laid out in the Bible. We just have to apply the new tools of today’s society.

Learning in the church is truly a lifelong undertaking. It begins with professional leadership.

Are we ready for it?

photo credit: victor|bonomi via photopin cc
21 Feb 2012

Solo Pastors Must Be Evangelists

Most small congregations function with solo pastors. Solo pastors must be evangelists.

But some solo pastors rely on miraculous intervention for church growth. Denominations even have a term for this ministry style—caretaker ministries. Caretaker ministries are a terrible idea! They are an insult to mission of the church. In addition, they are at the heart of much church conflict.

The problem: congregations are not in on the “caretaker” secret. Lay people think they have called a pastor equipped to help with all aspects of ministry, including evangelism. They are unaware that their caretaker pastor has just one goal—to appease a congregation’s current membership for however long it takes for them to fail. The reason stated with confidence: the culture and demographics can no longer support the neighborhood church.

So here is what happens. The caretaker pastor faithfully serves needy members, visits regularly, prays with them, and becomes loved and respected for the personal attention given. Meanwhile, lay leaders, who are responsible for the overall health of the congregation, become concerned that the congregation is not fulfilling other aspects of vital ministry. They begin pressing for evangelism, educational services and ministry efforts the caretaker minister had no intention of ever providing.

The needy congregational members see escalating conflict as an attack on their beloved caretaker. They are content and unconcerned with church growth and budgets. Suddenly, a congregation is divided. All the players are good people with worthwhile goals, but lines are soon drawn—”good guys” vs “bad guys.”

A predictable scenario: the caretaker pastor will insist evangelism is the role of the laity.

Laity, on the other hand, think that professionally trained pastors are in a better position to conduct outreach.

A corporation does not unleash their sales force without intense training. If the Church is to rely on lay evangelists, it must give them similar support.

2×2 has experience with this situation. Over many years, we had conversations with our clergy pressing for services that might grow the congregation. We became familiar with the professional reasoning that ended up with inaction on anyone’s part.

Then one day in 2006, we found ourselves with no pastor and no hope of cooperation from our denomination in finding professional leadership. We crafted our own initiative, put the reins in the hands of untried but enthusiastic members, and pledged as a congregation to support their efforts. They met with early success and were even able to find qualified professional support (help our denomination insisted could not be found). Remarkable growth resulted.

Our denomination responded by condemning our work. The only reason given: it was not done in cooperation with the Synod Mission Office.

How silly! Congregations are not required to ask permission to invite people to come to church.

Can the Church have it both ways? Can they insist that lay people are responsible for outreach and then complain when clergy don’t lead the outreach?

If church mission must be “in cooperation” with church professionals, then they must take responsibility. They must provide pastors who roll up their sleeves and lead evangelism by example and by training, equipping, and encouraging laity—and they must be held accountable.

Denominations must insist solo pastors engage in evanglism. Do not wait for years of failure before implementing steps for success.

Quit blaming demographics and culture. Christianity has been standing up to these forces from the start.

Christ’s answer to the challenge was to empower the lay workers.

17 Feb 2012

Learning from Our Unique Experience as A Virtual Church

2×2 is the voice of Redeemer, small congregation in the East Falls neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pa. Our denomination decided for us that we could no longer fulfill our mission and seized control of all our property and financial assets for their own use. They locked the Christians of East Falls out of the church, we can only assume, so that they could more easily have their way. Our church building, under SEPA management, has been an empty witness to Christianity for going on three years — a definite failure to fulfill mission!

Redeemer, however, continues as 2×2.

We were not about to abandon our mission under such selfish circumstances. We had spent several years fostering a world view as we had visitors and members from all over the globe. This made it easier for us to take our ministry online, but we had no idea what to expect. Thinking globally and acting locally, we are discovering that our mission can impact the world.

We no longer worry so much about Philadelphia, although we are ready at any moment to reopen our physical church. We think our neighborhood still counts in God’s Kingdom.

Meanwhile, we are beginning to hear from congregations far away. A mission worker in Eastern Europe thanks us for our social media ministry. A pastor in Pakistan sends us regular updates on his congregation’s efforts to reach the poor in remote villages. A church in Africa thanks us for our ministry and describes their need to care for orphans.

Having been ousted from our denomination, we are no longer cloistered within Lutheranism. We are in regular contact with churches and church leaders across the United States. A few have provided both financial and spiritual support. Some have interesting projects and experiences which we incorporate into our ministry. We are more “in full communion” than when we were part of a “full communion” denomination — and this was achieved without decades of dialog!

At home in Philadelphia, we have become friendly with several parishes we knew little about when we were cozy in our own property.

Most congregations, near or far, are looking for little more than attention and prayer, which we are able and happy to provide.

We did not know what we were getting into when we started our virtual ministry, but it has opened the door for new mission and new possibilities. We are no longer just talking about mission but have  never been more actively engaged.

Meanwhile, our own denomination behaves as if we never existed.

16 Feb 2012

Why Church Growth Is So Elusive

Most churches never set out to grow.

Churches talk about growth all the time — even when there is little or no growth evident across a denomination. Denominations can even adopt airs of successful growth in their convocations and publications, camouflaging double digit decline.

Why is growth desirable? Is it because of the Church’s burning need to save souls, or is it to meet the escalating costs of Christian community? There is surely some of both in the answer and other options. Nevertheless, it might be worthwhile to ponder what is really spurring the current demand for growth and change.

The problem is that we are measuring success by statistics that no one really set out to fulfill.

Imagine how big every church would be if for the last 100 years every congregation accepted 20 new members net (allowing for natural attrition). Twenty new members each year should be a modest goal for a church that is growth-oriented. It should get easier every year and explode exponentially!

It rarely happens!

Most churches and church communities are designed to fill the needs of the founding members. Growth to keep up with the economy was not in their crosshairs. Special ministries to changing communities were not what most members signed on for.

Most congregations and clergy are content when numbers provide a sense of stability.

Look at the average church building erected 100 or 200 years ago. Most were not built with growth in mind. Many were situated on donated land and built to fit the lots and house the existing worshiping community. The biggest number in mind was how many might show up on Easter morning and Christmas Eve.

When growth happened, older buildings were abandoned, new ones built or wings were added. In some cases the only option for growth was to add worship services. But these days services are often added for convenience or worship style options — not to accommodate growth.

If growth is so important, why isn’t it planned from the beginning?

When are extra pastors added? Answer: when growth has already happened and the congregation can afford an additional salary. Extra hands are rarely sought when the mission work justifies it but only when there are already more service needs and a foreseeable budget to sustain those existing needs.

If growth is truly a goal and more hands are needed to achieve growth, we have to start thinking outside the foresight of our founding matriarchs and patriarchs. We have to return to true mission, not economic salvation.

We have to provide help where it is most needed — neighborhood churches. Yes, even the small ones. That’s where true denominational growth will take root.

The temptation for denominational leaders is to look for easier success formulas and provide the strongest support to the congregations who can sustain their current budgets—for the time being, at least.

We have to take some chances.

Where do we start?

photo credit: BurgTender via photopin cc

15 Feb 2012

Happy Valentine’s Day from Redeemer

A web site features quotes coupled with poignant images. Most of the quotes are about love. Some are about hope. Some are about brokenness and pain.

Something similar to a “Like” button is displayed above every image and quote.

The quotes that most resonated with viewers to this page were the quotes about hurt and pain. The numbers vastly outweigh the “love” quotes.

From the site’s opening page.

“You desired my attention but denied my affections.”
28,393

“I’d rather love just a little too much.”
527

Just a fluke? No! The disparity is quite remarkable. Several thousand for hurt compared consistently to a few hundred for love.

We live in a broken world. People feel that their pain is lost on their neighbors, family and friends. A wise church will answer this need.

The quote that caught 2×2’s eye:

If it still hurts, you still care.

We, at Redeemer, don’t know any more if that’s Good News or not!

On this Valentine’s Day, when love is on our minds, look past the love and feel the pain. It should make love a bit stronger.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

photo credit: Vanessa Pike-Russell via photopin cc

14 Feb 2012

More Questions for SEPA Synod and Bishop Burkat

“We will travel by listening and praying and discerning, not by resisting, complaining or reminiscing.”

This sentence from Bishop Claire Burkat’s recent letter to professional leaders in the ELCA’s Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod is troubling.

There seems to be a hidden meaning. Listening, praying and discerning are the good things, right? Does that mean resisting, complaining and reminiscing are bad things?

If no one resists when they are mistreated, if no one complains when they see wrong in the world, and if our life experiences mean so little that we cannot share and remember them and build our identities around them, then how is anyone to listen, pray and discern wisely?

Isn’t a devotion to the Bible a form of reminiscing?

There is power in the things Bishop Burkat proposes we avoid. Listening, praying and discernment are fueled by resisting, complaining and reminiscing. No one should want to be a part of a church that does not honor these along with the others.

Bishop Burkat seems to long for easy leadership—one where church leaders and church members do as they are told. This philosophy can be rephrased: We’ll figure out what is best for you; you will comply.

Now that SEPA Synod has decided that your property and money are theirs for the taking, will congregations dare resist, complain or be caught remembering their heritage?

This poor leadership philosophy has been the driving force behind the five-year conflict between Bishop Burkat/SEPA and Redeemer. Does SEPA need more evidence that this is bad for all Lutherans?

By the way, Bishop Burkat’s opening dialog in her one meeting with Redeemer back in 2007 included her complaint, “I sense there is resistance.” Well, she was right about that!

She then set about destroying all memory of Redeemer — locking our doors for nearly three years, tearing down all signage, refusing to allow us even the name of our church. (Doesn’t this sound a bit like the way the U.S. treated the native Americans? If you can control their identity, you can control their land.)

SEPA congregations know what they have to look forward to if they don’t toe the line.

13 Feb 2012

Why Small Churches Will Save Mainline Denominations

The small church has been neglected for quite a while. Tragically, the neglect has been intentional. It is also short-sighted.

Denominational middle management stressed viablity in congregations at a time when the economy was impacting their own bottom line. Small churches became attractive targets for closure. Their weaknesses were highlighted while the denominations’ struggles were hidden from view. The attitude was, “We know what’s best for you. We can make better use of your resources. Praise God for your 100-150 years of dedication. Hand over the keys and where do you keep the money?” No “please”; no “thank you.”

This attitude reflects a dereliction of duty. Denominations exist to serve and once you write off your constituency, ethical dilemmas soon abound.

Suddenly, the failure of small churches becomes a goal — the sooner the better, and please make it easy. Little time and attention are spent on the problems of the small church. Clergy fail to hear God’s call for small parish ministry. Small churches must rely on lay skills and the devotion of retired clergy, whose training and active years predate the current thinking.

This is a shame. Small churches are ideally situated to address many of the problems faced by denominations today.

It’s a David and Goliath scenario.

A Goliath church is large and cumbersome. It looks down on the rest of the world and can be haughty about its wealth and prestige. The budget is top-heavy with professional salaries and property maintenance. Parish life revolves around making these assets function. This makes it more difficult to identify change in the community and refocus on changing ministry priorities. Any priorities to be addressed must fit the skills and interests of salaried leaders. The priority is always paying pastors and keeping up the building. A Goliath church has an army of support. Armies work best when there is someone giving orders.

A David church is small, agile and wiry. It meets the rest of the world eye to eye. It doesn’t have the status of larger churches, but it is likely to know very well where its strengths lie. It has a hard time getting the attention of denominational leadership. It presses forward, relying on members’ talent, fueled by a spirit and devotion that is ready to overcome any obstacle. It does not have much in the way of internal hierarchy to weigh it down. It can change ministry plans and emphases easily as neighborhoods change and new challenges arise. Any member can implement a new idea. A David church is likely to change quickly and the denomination, who may have been paying no attention for years, is none the wiser.

Mainline denominations face challenges today that are ideal for David-sized church ministries. Small churches are likely to interact personally with visitors and less likely to depend on someone else taking the lead. Multicultural ministries can be easily pursued in neighborhoods where populations are changing. The disabled and disenfranchised can be served one on one without unwieldy programs. Families led by single parents can easily find support and acceptance. David churches have been training their own leaders for decades. They have skills and energy that King Saul would not notice — until he is desperate.

Of course, large churches can also address these issues, but there is a greater tendency to create programs led by well-paid experts, while small churches will roll up their sleeves and embrace challenges personally.

The problem is that denominations come to their David churches with Goliath expectations and solutions. Small churches know they cannot afford Goliath budgets. That doesn’t mean that closing David churches and reallocating their assets is the answer. The answer is in finding ways to help David churches be the best they can be with their resources. Use their resources to help them with their challenges.

Wise denominations will look to their small David churches for ideas and energy and stop viewing them as tomorrow’s dinner.

11 Feb 2012

When a Church Makes Mistakes

“There will be dangers, and we will surely make mistakes.”

Bishop Claire Burkat of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church  in America (SEPA, ELCA), wrote these words to rostered leaders a couple of weeks ago.

She is talking about the future. It is also part of SEPA’s past.

Bishop Burkat’s message warned leaders that they don’t quite know what they are doing or where they are going in today’s religious climate. We suspect that has been the case for a while. There have been needless and costly casualties as SEPA leadership reached their newfound epiphany.

We all make mistakes. Church members, clergy, congregations, and yes, even bishops make mistakes.

Our question for the bishop and other SEPA Lutherans is this: When, at last, you’ve identified an action as a “mistake,” what are you going to do about it?

Redeemer and 2×2 are in an excellent position to predict the future.

When leadership mistakes happen within the part of God’s Kingdom called SEPA, the rostered clergy are protected at all cost. The volunteer laity shoulder the blame. We cannot move comfortably into the uncharted future as long as this continues.

By now, it should be dawning on SEPA congregations that the actions they endorsed in East Falls— if not by vote, by neglect — are a huge mistake. And now SEPA is warning that more mistakes are likely.

So far, SEPA congregations have behaved as if they are powerless. The annihilation of one little congregation has been a focal point of Bishop Burkat’s entire term. By setting out to destroy one expendable congregation, she has weakened the whole Church.

The Church must practice four pillars of church community—repentance, forgiveness, reconciliation and atonement. Without these, the church will crumble.

What might have happened if SEPA and Bishop Burkat had practiced the techniques of listening and discernment she references in her latest letter to clergy? What might be happening in East Falls if SEPA actions had been motivated by love — which is the primary message of the Gospel? What might be happening in East Falls if SEPA had worked with Redeemer in the interdependent relationship their constitutions call for?

The Redeemer/SEPA conflict was needless. Once started there were numerous roads toward peace. Redeemer suggested many possibilities in letter after ignored letter. Every decision made by SEPA leadership for the last four years regarding Redeemer has escalated conflict with no end in sight. Faithful laity were treated as enemies from the get go.

We do not have to polish our crystal ball to predict that this is what SEPA congregations can expect if they are the victims of anticipated synodical mistakes.

  • Your clergy will disappear. Laity will be blamed for all consequences and have no one to speak for them.
  • Members will be named in personal lawsuits, their lives affected for years after being banished from their church.
  • Property and assets will be valued while people are thrown away.
  • Your congregation and its members will be called names, mocked, threatened, strong-armed, and dragged through the courts with every expectation that you submit to bullying.
  • No stone will be left unturned in pursuit of evidence to justify actions — after the fact.
  • Your members will be treated as if their faith and dedication are subservient to synod’s wishes made in greedy isolation.
  • Your denomination will use the full power of the courts in their attack against your members, while taking full advantage of their First Amendment protection of “separation of church and state.”

Maundy Thursday is eight weeks away. The imagery of Maundy Thursday is Christ in humility.

Church leaders like to display their humility ceremonially on this sacred occasion.  If this humility is genuine, the doors of Redeemer should be unlocked and our bishop should preside over a service, kneeling to wash the feet of Redeemer members. That would be the start of a new Church that practices what it preaches — repentance, forgiveness, reconciliation and atonement.

IMAGE SOURCE PAGE: http://laughing-listening-learning.blogspot.com/2011_03_01_archive.html
10 Feb 2012

The “Not So New” Horizontal Church

Many church leaders are bemoaning that Church isn’t what it used to be. Bishop Claire Burkat wrote to her rank and file lately warning that the road ahead is uncharted and there is no blueprint for moving foreward. The old ways just aren’t working.

Perhaps it is only an illusion that they ever did!

Welcome to the “horizontal” Church.

Church can learn from what’s happening in the rest of the world. Business leaders, too, are noticing that the old ways of doing business are ineffective, inefficient and unprofitable. There is a TV show that brings this “epiphany” to us every Sunday evening — Undercover Boss.

In the old business world, upper management controlled all things. An employee’s future relied on his/her ability to control people, material, budgets, customers. The power in the business world has shifted to the consumer. Smart business people are meeting the challenge by restructuring their businesses to be less vertical (hierarchical) and more horizontal. Create a good product, serve your customers well, and your business will grow by word of mouth or by keystrokes on the internet or cellphone.

The Church lives in the same world. It has relied on hierarchical control for a very long time and so change may come a bit harder and a tad slower, but things are changing. Hierarchies are crumbling under the weight of their own weaknesses. Rank and file spiritual church members are resisting the support of vertical management and for good reason. It’s expensive, unproductive and crippling. Offerings, we can conclude, are better spent on direct service than on supporting hierarchy.

And so, the Church today is mirroring society. The Church is becoming more horizontal. We still have a good “product” and the laborers in the vineyard are committed. The Church will survive by spreading person to person (2×2!).

This is where Bishop Burkat is wrong! There is a blueprint! It’s called The Bible.

photo credit: michaelrighi via photopin cc

 

07 Feb 2012